SPOTLIGHT: OrgChart’s Tom McCarty on Narrowing Total Addressable Market to Drive Growth
Jan 23, 2025
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Tom McCarty, CEO of OrgChart, shares his journey as a first-time CEO in B2B tech. He discusses critical strategies for narrowing the total addressable market to boost growth, revealing how focus can transform challenges into opportunities. Tom emphasizes the importance of building trust with private equity partners through transparency and collaboration. He also addresses the tech bloat dilemma and offers advice to aspiring CEOs, highlighting resilience and personal development as keys to navigating adversity in leadership.
Tom McCarty emphasized the importance of narrowing the total addressable market to enhance focus and drive effective growth strategies.
He highlighted the value of strong partnerships and collaboration, stressing how support from private equity partners helped him navigate challenges as a first-time CEO.
Deep dives
Overview of OrgChart and Its Growth
OrgChart specializes in providing automated organizational charts, primarily serving HR professionals. The company, founded over a decade ago, has transitioned to being backed by private equity and has seen significant growth since Tom McCarty became CEO. Under his leadership, OrgChart has more than doubled its customer base, surpassing 2,000 clients and achieving an eight-figure revenue mark. The focus is on delivering insights and visibility into organizational structures, helping HR teams streamline processes that have traditionally relied on manual tools like Vizio or PowerPoint.
Navigating Business Challenges
Tom McCarty faced significant challenges in 2023 as a first-time CEO, including the limitations of a bootstrapped business framework amid an economic downturn. He realized the need for a more focused approach, narrowing the company's strategic initiatives to concentrate on generating new opportunities for growth. By reducing distractions and encouraging the team to rally around critical metrics, McCarty emphasized the importance of aligning goals to drive performance in operations and marketing. This focus helped the team overcome hurdles and maintain momentum during a tough year.
Lessons for Aspiring CEOs
McCarty advises those aspiring to become CEOs, particularly in private equity-backed companies, to carefully evaluate the relationships they'll foster with both the firm and board members. The connection and support from his private equity partners played a vital role in navigating challenges and nurturing his growth as a first-time CEO. Transparency about his own limitations allowed him to lean on the expertise of those around him, fostering a collaborative environment. Ultimately, he highlights that experience through adversity has made him a more resilient leader, enhancing his capabilities in managing future challenges.
Topline is excited to introduce our newest segment – Topline Spotlight. In this series, our hosts sit down with top B2B tech leaders to explore the biggest challenges they’ve faced and how they conquered them.
In this episode of Topline Spotlight, our hosts sit down with Tom McCarty, CEO of Org Chart, to discuss a pivotal challenge he faced: narrowing the total addressable market (TAM) to drive better growth. As a first-time CEO of a private equity-backed company, Tom shares his strategic approach to refining market focus, which led to more effective growth strategies. He also provides insights for aspiring CEOs, highlighting the value of selecting the right partners and viewing challenges as avenues for personal and professional development.